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The World
The Known World By sea and land, the reach of civilization is broad. A winding continent sprawls – the mainland sprawls around the Ring Mountains, stretching north to the Fortland Mountains, then curling westward along the Northern Shore. As the mountains fade and turn southward, a great chasm blocks travel by land or sea – the water seemingly falling into a great, empty fog. The boreal forests attach this chunk of land to the next, where the mountains return – eastward crumbling into the Legbreaks, westward thickening into a great steppe. South of here, across another great chasm linked by narrow sea bridges, lies Celestia. East of Celestia and south of the mainland lies Soth; east of the mainland the Imperial Isles stretch sparsely through the ocean, and to the distant southeast of the continent, the Dragon Isles lie quiet and undisturbed. The northern stretch of the continent is frigid, and requires some degree of magic (or a few choice routes) to bypass. To the north, the Northern Shores are still mild in the summers and frigid in the winters; similar in climate to Vendcrum and Demon Bay below. The bulk of the mainland and the Legbreaks and Giant front are temperate, with warm summers and cool winters, while Celestia, the southern mainland, Soth, and the Dragon Isles are tropical and balmy year-round. The Mainland This stretch of land has been inhabited for several thousand years, and prior to a gap, was inhabited long before. The mainland is anchored by the central Ring Mountains, which encircle the tiny, fertile garden republic of Pacim; rain from the northwest, west, and southwest reaching a final destination in the small valley therein. West of the Ring Mountains, steppe divides them from the coast, where limestone crags stretch northward and rolling hills southward. Northwest of the Ring Mountains, the boreal forests, northern stretch of the limestone crags, floodlands, and great forest encircle a great bay. North of the Ring Mountains, the great forest and wild swamps bridge the valley between the Ring Mountains and Fortland Mountains. North of the swamps stretch highlands, and north of the forest stretches the boreal forest. To the northeast, the wild swamps, northern temperate jungles, highlands, fortland mountains, and tundra encircle a great bay. To the east, the coast is formed by the northern jungles, southward stretching into the eastern plains, then to the rolling mistborne mountains. To the south of the Ring Mountains lies the Great River. South of the mountains and east of the Great River, southern highlands fade into southern jungles, which hug the riverbanks and southern coast along the bottom of the Mistborne Hills. South of the mountans and west of the river, the steppe meets the southern highlands and the hills meet the southern deserts, stretching along the coast to the riverbank. The Isles The Redwine Isles, to the southwest of the mainland’s southwestern coast, have long been inhabited by mainlanders. Across a great chasm to the west of the Redwine Isles, the island of Celestia stretches. South of the desert, the isles of Soth dot the ocean. To the distant southeast of the mainland, the Dragon Isles are largely unexplored, covered in unfamiliar ruins. To the east of the mainland, the Imperial Isles dot the ocean. The Northern Shore Across the tundra’s barrier of harsh climate, the northern shores stretch. They form a long, thin stretch of tundra, fading to boreal forest northward before reaching the lowlands by the shore. During the winters, all but the lowlands are uninhabitable; during the summers, the lowlands are heavily flooded. To the west, the great chasm splits the mountains, from the mainland’s northern coast through to this one. The Freedlands Split off by the chasm, the Morrowlands stretch further than the coast to the northwest, where things grow gradually more temperate over this vast desert highland, supernaturally bathed in eternal night. Southward, the tundra and mountains give way to Demon Bay’s cold shores, before stretching into a thin land-bridge covered in dense pines. Southward still, the giant front closes off the rest of the mainland - the western coast curves back to the northwest along temperate hills, and is cut off by the divide at the southern jungles – the hills and jungles separated by the towering steppe. East of the steppe, across the Stormy Sea from the rolling hills and craglands of the mainland, the Legbreaks are twisted and shorn slate mountains, snaked through with caverns and separated by muddy valleys.